www.CoachesBest.com
By Drue Carney
If you have a son or daughter playing baseball or softball then you probably have noticed the chaos that ensues in the team's dugout. Most ball field complexes consist mainly of fences and benches. The few types of dugout organizers that exist are easily damaged or just hold one equipment item such as bats. So there often is no place for the players to put their equipment. A lot of young players carry very simple bat bags to their games and hang them on the fence but once the players take their stuff out of their bags it doesn't go back in until the end of the game. In these instances, players typically just toss their gloves and hats about the dugout and they often end up on the ground where they can get stepped on. As well, bats are leaned up against the fence and regularly also end up on the ground where they get kicked and stepped on.
When a dugout is unorganized, the players spend a lot of time trying to find their things. In the absence of any type of dugout organizer equipment, a coach should take the time to teach his players how to keep their team's dugout organized. Coaches should explain to the players that they should put their gloves, hats and helmets in the same place all the time. If players do this then they will know where their things are and can then focus more on the game and the coaching and strategy being provided by the coaches.
If players are taught how to keep the dugout organized then the end result is that their equipment will be treated better. Players will respect one another's equipment if it is placed in the same spot all the time in the dugout. An organized dugout enables the players to help each other at the end of an inning by finding the player's hat and glove to bring out to him or her on the field - otherwise referred to as "picking him/her up."
The third benefit of an organized dugout is that it minimizes risk. The risk of injury is minimized by fewer things being thrown around on the ground where a player can easily trip on something like a bat. The risk of a player losing equipment is also reduced because if a team is taught how to keep their dugout organized then they are more likely to know where each other's things are located.
It is challenging to teach young boys and girls how to take care of their baseball or softball equipment. Their mindset is that they are there to play a game and have fun. Unfortunately this results in a dugout that is not organized and the wasting of a lot of time by players looking for their hat, gloves and helmets. To help make their team run smoothly, baseball and softball coaches should spend some practice time teaching their players about keeping their dugout organized.
Drue is a parent of kids playing youth baseball and softball. Like many parents, he could not stand the sight of a messy dugout, especially seeing all of the expensive gloves, helmets and bats parents had bought for their kids being stepped on and kicked around as well as kids wasting game time by not being able to find their equipment before going on to the field. In order to solve this problem, he designed The Bench Coach, a portable dugout organizer. Take a moment to see how easy it now is to have an organized dugout at http://www.thebenchcoach.com
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